The European Parliament and European Council have reached a provisional agreement on new Euro 7 rules to reduce transport emissions from road vehicles.
The regulation will seek to remove road transport emissions, which, according to a European Commission report, was responsible for an estimated 39% of NOx emissions in 2018.
The new standards aim to ensure that cars, vans, lorries and buses are much cleaner and in real driving conditions that better reflect the situation in cities where air pollution problems are largest, and for a much longer period than under current rules.
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Furthermore, the deal sets brake particle emission limits for cars and vans at 7mg/km for most internal combustion engine (ICE), hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles, and at 11mg/km for large ICE vans.
The new Euro 7 regulations should also help to better control emission of air pollutants from all new vehicles, update and tighten the limits for pollutant emissions, and support increased electric vehicle (EV) uptake through regulation of battery durability.
European Parliament member Alexandr Vondra said: “Through this deal, we have successfully struck a balance between environmental goals and the vital interests of manufacturers.
“The aim of the negotiations was to ensure the affordability of new smaller cars with internal combustion engines for domestic customers and at the same time enable the automotive industry to prepare for the expected overall transformation of the sector.”
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Euro 7 will also be the first emission standard to regulate emissions from brakes and tires in addition to standard exhaust pipe monitoring, setting additional particulate emission rules on brakes and on microplastic emissions from tires.
Digitally capable vehicles will be protected as Euro 7 rules ensure that vehicles are not tampered with, and emissions can be controlled by authorities in an easy way by using sensors inside the vehicle to measure emissions throughout the lifetime of a vehicle.
Achievements and innovations in air pollution reduction will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations officially open in March 2024. Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector.
